


A Moment's Blood

by booktick



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Dies/Nobody Lives Except Corvo, Dishonored 2 Spoilers, Grief/Mourning, High Chaos (Dishonored), High Chaos Corvo Attano, High Chaos Emily Kaldwin, Mentions of Jessamine and Corvo, Other, Post-Dishonored 2 (Video Game), Reminiscing, Sad Ending, Self-Denial, Self-Destruction, Self-Doubt, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 15:55:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16936206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booktick/pseuds/booktick
Summary: "Corvo, old friend. Do I even need to say it? You've lost another Empress."





	A Moment's Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own none of this franchise.

* * *

He should be used to death by now. Dunwall _reeks_ of it. The fish no longer swim in the waters and no one calls to aid the place. Morley has all but cut them off and Tyvia pretends the place never existed. He thought with Emily on the throne that this might be a second chance. A chance for peace, for change, for something greater than the Void.

But none of that would be.

Not in the carcass that had been once thriving and headed towards the future, and not with its' people that had pushed past a plague only to realize it was their home that was the real disease that could not be cut out. It was all too easy for Corvo to shift blame onto his shoulders. Everyone's already done that plenty of times, even before Jessamine's death. The blame is easy to wear for Corvo Attano. He had done so with Empress Jessamine and again with the girl named Lady Emily. He had sewn in the gift the Black Eyed Bastard, right into his hand, until there was nothing left but a ghost in his palm that whispered the secrets of all, including himself.

He never tried to explain to Emily of what he found deep inside the void. He assumed she had nightmares of the place, even at such a young age, and him spreading his version of truths of the Outsider would do no help to anyone. He could still hear Empress Emily's screams throughout the palace. She never told him what she saw in those dreams but his imagination would always run wild anyway. Were they like his dreams? Did the Outsider stain her with his name too? How many more times would Emily have to suffer at the hands of others?

He wasn't exactly allies with the Abbey but he prayed Emily Kaldwin would be spared this time. Emily was stone and his hands are stained.

And he was _wrong_.

Delilah descreates the throne room. He doesn't get the luxury of witnessing the butchering of them all. Instead, he cuts down two guards and Mortimer Ramsey takes an elbow to the face. Mortimer wanted recognition for himself, for his name, and the traitor would have it. Corvo leaves him locked in the secret room, and takes the ring with him--let the bastard die alone. Dunwall Tower is soaked in blood, never to be a place to truly call home again. Delilah will not be able to turn a corner without realizing that, nor would he. Let her have the throne, he'd return in the end. If it meant more bloodshed in the name of Emily, then let it be done. A throne of thorns can bleed all the same. Delilah had taken in so many, promised them absolution and peace--she had given them power. Delilah was _everything_ to her followers.

And Breanna Ashworth is _nothing_ without Delilah.

The witch is one small part in Delilah's group of thieves but a _significant_ one at that. He finds the first statue there, it's almost the same as what took his Emily away. Void of any true expression, and not at all like the original but enough to give the illusion of a person. This one, however, moves and speaks in stiff patterns. Emily will never be able to him again, he will never admit it out loud--not until after all of this is done, but deep down, Corvo knows. He makes sure to let Delilah know _exactly_ what he intends to do.

This choice puts everything in high alert for Breanna and her witches, turning their sanctuary into a tomb. Delilah's statue screams and they are almost as good as the real thing but it means nothing in the end. It's far too easy, he realizes, to tear a chunk out of the Usurper's throat when she can do nothing about it. Not even magic can change that. All a person has to do is find who someone cares about and suddenly it's all laid out on a table. Jindosh, Hypatia--they had been mediocre. They had meant nothing to Delilah. But Breanna? She had been Delilah's past the same as Jessamine, the same as Dunwall had been. He knows what it can feel like to lose the person you care most for.

It would have been better if Delilah had been here. Then Delilah and Corvo would have had something entirely too familiar in common. This would have to do for now.

Next is the heart of the mines. Corvo has been away from the throne long enough to remember that Karnaca is not Dunwall. It's already been well established as a war against nature. Paolo has his gang, and the Abbey has their faith. He needs Stilton in the end, that's where he learns what Delilah really is. It's not that difficult to piece two and two together with candlelight and deceit in the night. It's a quick and sudden grip that removes two of the hearts from the dust stained mines, and it's left without a leader against the Duke of Serkonos. Corvo takes the position without hesitation.

He finds the irony in his hand being the one to remove Duke Luca Abele. How Luca's father would be so dissatisfied with his son, a father's grief is something Corvo is all to familiar with as well. He was doing his old friend a favor. The Duke chokes on Deliliah's name as he bleeds out, his double is thrown into the waters. He wants the people to know. This is who they were governed by, such a waste. He was doing this the Empire, for Emily. It would be cruel to not do otherwise. It was Delilah Copperspoon who had made things personal, it was her fault that these tasks had come to pass, not his. She would _never_ be his Empress.

He didn't exactly have an entourage of people that stood behind him this time. He didn't see the knife being sharpened to stab him in the back this time. Anton was an old man, and weak from his time with Jindosh. Then there was Meagan Foster, or Billie Lurke, he wasn't sure what to call her anymore. She wandered off before he could do much with her. She had gone off to find whatever peace meant to her he figured. Not that there was much of that left in this world. He thinks it makes him have some honor in the end, not going after her, even if she did help the man who murdered Jessamine Kaldwin. It's less blood on his soaked blade, but Anton will never let him forget it. He sends the man back to Tyvia, far away from Dunwall. Another mercy, he tells himself late at night.

The truth is he doesn't want any reminder of his past seeing what he will do once he reaches Dunwall Tower. He hopes they both found some sort of life in this world, even if he couldn't--not anymore. It takes everything in him not to burn Dunwall to the ground when he heads to the tower. It's filled with what was left of Delilah's witches, girls that came to her for guidance and compassion and love. Delilah would have just failed them all over again if he hadn't come through. That's how he rationalizes it all, carving his way through the tower like he had Karnaca.

Delilah does not go down without a fight. It's a smear of paint and corrupted skull that seal her away. Unlike Farley, he does not let Delilah have the luxury of death. Not this one, the rest would be reason enough for justice...for now. The painting will remain in the throne room, where Emily will be at his side. He must always have his eyes on them both. There was no other way, no other solution--he...must do this. Emily would have understood.

Emily had seen what he had done for her when they murdered her mother. He had loved Jessamine, she was his heart and he was hers. No child should see their mother die on marble floors. There would be another Delilah, there would always be another Farley Havelock--they would keep coming and coming, and he would be too old one day. He would not have the means to protect her, not like this. She would be hurt all over again, butchered for the sake of the Empire. He could not let that come to pass.

His poor Emily, she would never speak. She would never breathe. Frozen in time, and _safe_. She would never have to worry or fear for her life, to be concerned about what was happening to others around him. She would not have to be worried _for him_. He would protect her this time, he would not let her slip through his fingers like he had with Daud. Things would be different this time. Corvo would do what was necessary and damn the Outsider and damn the Void. If that meant having to wear the crown, take the throne himself, to protect his daughter then the deed would be struck into stone. Corvo the Black, Emperor of the Empire of the Isles, and Royal Protector of the Kaldwin Dynasty.

And as his hair turned to white, and his bones grew heavy, he would remember it all. Emily would always be there, and would never be used, by anyone, not even by the Outsider himself. There had been enough snakes in this garden, he would trim the grass again and again if he had to. Until the very last one. Jessamine would have said he lost who he was, he knows this.

Corvo Attano could not pinpoint the moment he truly died, but what he was now...he was what _they_ made him.The Outsider knew what he was. _Old Samuel_ had known what he was, what he had become, long ago. ' _And you, Corvo...the things you've done. You could be the worst of us._ ' What a _wise_ man Old Samuel turned out to be. Samuel had been right of course, in the end, Samuel was always right about what was happening in this world. Corvo _had_  done plenty of rotten things in his time, things that no one could come back from. And if old Samuel had asked him then, he would have said exactly what he would say now:

He would have done what he did, all of it, all over again if he had to, if it meant Emily was safe. It was always for her...


End file.
